Chapter 1
The Transportation Planning Process
1.1 Why are highways so important?
Highways are vitally important to a country’s economic development. The con-
struction of a high quality road network directly increases a nation’s economic
output by reducing journey times and costs, making a region more attractive
economically. The actual construction process will have the added effect of
stimulating the construction market.1.2 The administration of highway schemes,
The administration of highway projects differs from one country to another,
depending upon social, political and economic factors. The design, construction
and maintenance of major national primary routes such as motorways or dual
carriageways are generally the responsibility of a designated government depart-
ment or an agency of it, with funding, in the main, coming from central
government. Those of secondary importance, feeding into the national routes,
together with local roads, tend to be the responsibility of local authorities.
Central government or an agency of it will usually take responsibility for the
development of national standards.
The Highways Agency is an executive organisation charged within England
with responsibility for the maintenance and improvement of the
motorway/trunk road network. (In Ireland, the National Roads Authority has
a similar function.) It operates on behalf of the relevant government minister
who still retains responsibility for overall policy, determines the framework
within which the Agency is permitted to operate and establishes its goals and
objectives and the time frame within which these should take place.
In the United States, the US Federal Highways Agency has responsibility at
federal level for formulating national transportation policy and for funding
major projects that are subsequently constructed, operated and maintained at
state level. It is one of nine primary organisational units within the US Depart-
ment of Transportation (USDOT). The Secretary of Transportation, a member
of the President’s cabinet, is the USDOT’s principal.